Report; āIsrael Welcomes New Year With Home Demolition, Invasions And Arrestsā

The Palestine Public Broadcasting Cooperation reported Tuesday that Israel started the new year with a series of invasions, attacks and destruction of Palestinian property, and with arrests targeting local residents; injuries were also reported.The army invaded the Al-Esawiyya town, north of occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished a home that belongs to resident Rafat Tareq Al-Eesawy, 40, under the pretext that his home was built without a construction permit.

Rafat is the brother of detainee Samer Al-Eesawy, who went on hunger strike more than 176 days, and suspended his strike last week for ten days following medical advice due to very serious health complications.

He said that Israeli military bulldozers, and several armored military vehicles, invaded Al-Esawiyya and demolished his 145-square/meter under construction home. The army and the Jerusalem municipality never handed him and warning, warrant or citation regarding his property.

āIsrael regards the land we live on to be public property, and wants to use the area to build national and biblical gardensā, he said, ātherefore, the city council does not grant the Palestinians any construction permits, Iāve been living in my small house with the three children and wife for 10 years, I cannot expand my house, I cannot build another house for my children due to Israeli restrictionsā.

The army also demolished, on Tuesday morning, three hothouses that belong to two families in the village, also under the pretext of being constructed without permits.

It is worth mentioning that since early dawn hours of the first day of 2013 the army conducted various invasions into different parts of the occupied West Bank, broke into several homes and kidnapped a number of residents.

The soldiers invaded Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem , broke into and searched several homes before kidnaping two residents identified as Amer Mohammad Taqatqa, 20, and Mousa Naāim Taqatqa, 19.

Soldiers further invaded Beit Ummar and Saāir towns, in the Hebron district in the southern part of the West Bank, kidnapped four residents and installed several roadblocks.

The Palestine New and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the soldiers kidnapped Nour Yousef Awad, 18, Mohannad Mirshid Awad, 15, and Yousef Ibrahim Sabarna, 18, after breaking into and searching their homes in Beit Ummar, and also kidnapped Adham Jaradaat, 27, in Saāir town.

The army further invaded several neighborhoods in Hebron, installed roadblocks at the entrances on Saāir, Halhoul, Ithna, and the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, stopped and searched dozens of vehicles and interrogated dozens of residents while inspecting their ID cards.

Majdi Al-Abbasy of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center told the WAFA News Agency that the army kidnapped the three residents from their homes in Ayyoub and Al-Bustan neighborhood, and moved them to an interrogation center in the city.

In Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, the army kidnapped three children from Zabbouba village, and held them at the Salem military camp, and also invaded the nearby villages of Az-Zababda and Msalya villages, south of the city.

Local sources told WAFA that the army detained Mohammad Jaradaat, 15, Allam Maqalda, 16, and Ahmad Amarna, 16, after invading Zabbouba village, interrogated the three children for several hours and handed them to the Palestinian District Coordination Office.

In Tammoun village, near the central West Bank city of Tubas, five Palestinians have been injured by military fire, one seriously, after undercover forces of the Israeli army infiltrated into the village and broke into a home before kidnaping one resident identified as Morad Suleiman Bani-Odah.

Head of the Tammoun village council told WAFA regular units of the Israeli army invaded the village and clashed with local residents; the soldiers fired dozens of rounds of live ammunition wounding five residents identified as Diaā Bani-Odah, Jadallah Jaradaat, Mohammad Bisharaat, Anas Bani-Odah, and Amin Bani-Odahāā dozens of residents were treated for the effects of teargas inhalation.

Nur ArafehĀ ,Ā November 30, 2016 Al Shakaba Palestinian Policy Network In an unusual move, and after years of neglect, American and European delegations and development agencies have recently been visiting East […]